A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme) in 4K

A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme) in 4K

Renowned French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s third feature, and his first in color, is an operatic romantic comedy set on the streets and in the cafés and cabarets of a vibrant 1960s Paris.

West Coast Restoration Premiere

Renowned French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s third feature, and his first in color, is an operatic romantic comedy set on the streets and in the cafés and cabarets of a vibrant 1960s Paris. The central story of a dancer (Anna Karina) desperate for a baby her lover (Jean-Claude Brialy) refuses to have with her morphs into a love triangle when his best friend (Jean-Paul Belmondo) offers her the very thing she’s longing for. Godard’s camera is all but magnetized to an effervescent Karina throughout her breakout performance, for which she won Best Actress at the 1961 Berlinale “for a display of qualities rare in a newcomer.” The French New Wave master’s signature halting edits lead to unforgettable scenes ripe with self-awareness—both Karina and Belmondo break the fourth wall to address the camera within the first five minutes—all carried by composer Michel Legrand’s jaunty score. Over sixty years later, A Woman Is a Woman remains one of the great paradigm-shattering takes on the rom-com.

Programmed and note by K.J. Relth-Miller.

DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Jean-Luc Godard. WITH: Jean-Claude Brialy, Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo. 1961. 85 min. France/Italy. Color. Cinemascope. French. Not rated. 4K DCP courtesy of Rialto Pictures/STUDIOCANAL. The restoration was produced from the original 35mm negative and sound negative. Scanned in 4K by Hiventy, then color-graded and digitally cleaned to remove imperfections in the original elements. Supervised by StudioCanal’s Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget. Restored with the support of the CNC.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 

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